Back on the rails

I’ve had a bit of a wobble with the whole project, but now I think I’m back on track. I have been doing some reading on creative research methods which makes me think my previous plan of conducting a focus group was a bit boring and safe. I think I just went into “teacher mode” and went too far with the idea of creating a workshop, I need to make sure this is more student- centred.

This week, I have been reading up on methods that use drawings as data collection and a means of prompting participants to speak. This was a concern I had with my original plan of holding a focus group, which was discussed in my last tutorial with Rochelle and Rachel, I found myself explaining the difficulties I have with getting students to speak to the class and each other. This could be due to language/communication barriers for international students and also the lack of in-class socialising which could be a result of covid and students being on campus for limited amounts of time. After the tutorial I realised trying to run a straight focus group probably wouldn’t be successful given the resistance to speaking out that I ‘d already experienced in class.

After doing some reading I have decided to try a different approach:

Kara, H (2015). Creative Research Methods in the Social Sciences : A Practical Guide

Linzmayer D & Halpenny E (2013) “It was Fun”: An Evaluation of Sand Tray Pictures, an Innovative Visually Expressive Method for Researching Children’s Experiences with Nature.

Gameiro S, de Guevara BB, El Refaie E, Payson A (2018) DrawingOut – An innovative drawing workshop method to support the generation and dissemination of research findings. 

Lyon P (2020) Using Drawing in Visual Research: Materializing the Invisible

Drawing is as fundamental to the energy which makes us human as singing and dancing.

(Berger, 2007: 109)

the isquare research programme
They are given squares of white paper of a standard size and black drawing pens and asked to produce a drawing in response to a question within a seven-minute time slot. This is designed to ‘gently guide the participant to a succinct (not sprawling) visual expression and suits a quick drawing activity’ (Hartel et al., 2017: 441). Finally, participants are asked to write a few words about their drawing on the back of the paper square. At the end of this data-gathering phase, an array of participant-produced ‘iSquare’ cards has been accumulated

Inspired by the isquare programme and the DrawingOut paper I read where researchers used drawing as a way for participants to share their experiences with trauma and illness , I thought this could try this with my students. Being illustration students they would be comfortable with drawing and perhaps this would be a good way to overcome any language barriers.

I also like how the isquare research programme asked participants to write three words on the back of the drawing.

So I’m thinking I will ask them to spend 7 minutes drawing a creature that represents their experiences/feelings/emotions on starting university. Then write three words on the back that summarise the drawing.

I’m also thinking about how participants will give their feedback. Should they feedback on their own work? Will they feel comfortable talking about this in front of the whole group?

A possible strategy could be to put the students in pairs (this is often what I have done in online classroom situations to encourage students to speak to each other) ask them to explain their drawings to each other and then feedback on what the other student has told them to the rest of the group.